I received a forwarded email message from a college friend, entitled: "How to Make God Your Leader".
One day, a huge crowd was in front of Heaven, waiting to get in.
To put more order, Jesus announced, “I’ll see the men first.” He then said, “All husbands who are the leader at home, form a line on my right. All husbands whose wives are the leader at home, form a line on my left.”
Immediately, thousands of men lined up on His left.
And only one brave guy stood at the right.
Jesus shook his head. He scolded the husbands at the left, “I’m a little bit disappointed with you. I specifically told you in the Bible that the husband should be the leader at home!” He then looked at the one man on his right and smiled. “Congratulations!”
The man said, “Thank you, Jesus. But I really don’t know why I’m here. My wife told me to stand here, so I did.”
Today, leadership is a bad word.
Let me tell you about my friend Carlos. He’s only in his thirties, but has already had eleven jobs in eleven companies. All because he can’t work with his bosses. Either his boss is too selfish or too inefficient or too lazy or too picky or too bossy. Though it was clear as daylight, Carlos couldn’t see the pattern. That he had issues with all authority figures.
Later on, I found out that Carlos never had a good relationship with his father.
This was the root.
(Note: This is the second of the series I’m giving on OMG!—describing who God is. Last week, I described God as Father. Today, I’ll describe God as Leader. But as you can see, both messages are one.)
Your father, whether you like it or not, was your first leader.
If you had a difficult relationship with your father, most likely, you’ll have a difficult relationship with all the leaders in your life. Including God as leader. You may be able to relate to God as healer, savior, and miracle-worker, but not as leader.
Plus, leadership is a bad word because of all the bad leaders in the world.
Let me give you a few crazy examples.
Top 10 Evil Leaders In The World
Take tyrants like Pol Pot.
In the three years that he ruled Cambodia , he killed most of their intellectuals. He then forced people living in cities to work in the barrios as some extreme agrarian communism. Because of the mass executions, the poor health conditions, and the poverty—two million people died—half of the population of Cambodia .
Another word for Tyrant is Bully. Bullies like Adolph Hitler.
Hitler was an incredible leader. He spoke so powerfully, he convinced all of Germany to conquer Europe . But at the end of Hitler’s rule, 10 million people died—including 6 million Jews.
Or take Joseph Stalin. He was head of the Soviet Union for 31 years. Because of the vast number of executions he ordered upon those he deemed “enemy of the state”—plus administrative decisions that caused widespread famine in huge parts of his country—international observers say that Stalin may have killed 10 million to 60 million people.
Based on death tolls and barbaric torture, here are the other top 10 evil Leaders in the world: Ivan IV, Vlad Tepes, Leopold II, Idi Amin, Ruholla Khomeini, Maximien Robespierre, and Atilla The Hun.
For many people, God is like them—a tyrant and a bully.
That’s why they can’t relate to Him.
He bullies us to follow Him—if we don’t, He throws us to Hell.
How can we follow a God who is a bully?
I know I can’t.
Thankfully, God is not a tyrant and a bully.
What Is A Good Leader?
Somehow, you already know a good leader when you see one.
Movies show good leaders all the time.
Remember the movie Karate Kid?
If you remember, then that means only one thing: you were born in the sixties, your James Bond was Sean Connery, your Darna was Vilma Santos, and your Batman had written sound effects (“Kapaw”).
In Karate Kid, young Daniel had Mr. Miyagi as his leader. (Favorite quote in that movie: “Wax in, wax out.”) Remember how Mr. Miyagi spent time with Daniel and taught him about life? Remember how Mr. Miyagi loved him and poured his life into him?
It was the same in Star Wars. If Karate Kid had Mr. Miyagi, then Luke Skywalker had Yoda. You see the same thing: Leadership is relationship.
For those of you who can’t relate because you were born in the 90’s, then let me fast-forward in time. How about Lord of the Rings? If Karate Kid had Mr. Miyagi, and Luke had Yoda, then Frodo had Gandalph.
Goodness, even in Kung Fu Panda, Po had Master Shifu. (Favorite quote: “Squadoosh.”)
What is common among Mr. Miyagi, Yoda, Gandalph, and Master Shifu?
Three very important things…
1) A leader builds a relationship with a disciple
2) A leader plants a dream in that person’s heart
3) A leader empowers that person to reach that dream
Let me tell you about my first spiritual leader.
My First Spiritual Leader Was A Woman
I met Aida Manongdo when I was 12 years old.
She was our prayer group leader. At that time, she was already a mother of six children. But despite our age difference, she took me under her wing and discipled me.
First, she built a relationship with me. She sat down with me and we studied the Bible together. She shared her conversations with God. She poured into me her faith and wisdom. And I’ll never forget those times when she prayed over me. When she did, it was like I was transported to Heaven.
The second thing she did was plant a dream in my heart. When I was 13 years old, she took me aside and said, “God told me that you’ll be a preacher. God told me that He has given you the gift of wisdom.” To this day, I have no idea what she saw in me. I was a normal 13-year-old kid who watched Voltes V on TV (I even memorized the theme song) and read Superman Comics. But that’s what great leaders do—find gold in the rough—and pour their lives in that person until the gold comes out.
And third, she empowered me. She said, “I want you to give a talk this coming Friday.” Being obedient, I went home and prepared a 20-page talk.
That Friday, when I took the microphone, I saw everyone was excited. I heard them say, “Wow, Bo’s going to give a talk! He’s the youngest in our group!”
But a few minutes later, they weren’t very excited anymore. Everyone was bored to death. Except for my mother of course who was absorbing every word, they were acting like chickens, their heads bobbing up and down.
I panicked. I decided to skip most of the pages in my talk and turned to the last page. And I said, “That’s all. Good night.” I was totally humiliated. I sat down and told myself I’ll never give another talk in my entire life. Never!
But Aida came up to me after the prayer meeting and said, “Bo, next Friday, give another talk. I said, “Sure!”
I am who I am because of Aida.
I owe my life and ministry to this great leader.
A Leader Builds A Relationship
Bottom line, Leaders are Lovers.
All throughout the Bible, when God wants something done, He’ll call one person—and establish a relationship with that person—and love that person.
This is His modus operandi.
When God wanted a new nation that will follow His ways, He called one person—Abraham. He shows Himself to him, speaks to him, spends time with him, and gives him a vision—“to be a father of many nations.”
When God wanted to rescue Israel from Egypt , He called one person—Moses. He brings him up to Mt. Sinai , shows Himself as the burning bush, introduces Himself as the Great I Am, and gives him a vision—“to rescue my people from Pharaoh.”
In this same way, God wants to build a relationship with you.
He doesn’t want to intimidate you so you’ll follow Him.
He doesn’t want to dominate you into submission.
He doesn’t want to terrify you into obedience.
Instead, He’ll spend time with you. He’ll win your trust. He’ll expose His own heart to you. He’ll pour his life into you.
In other words, He’ll love you.
This is His brand of leadership.
Don’t Cut The String
Imagine a Kite flying on high up in the sky.
You are the kite. God is the boy flying that kite. The string between the boy and the kite is your relationship with God.
But there are kites that feel that the string is holding them back.
So the kite says, “I want to fly higher. I can do so if this string isn’t here.”
So they cut the string. They want to live their lives on their terms. Their theme song is Frank Sinatra’s I did it my way.
When they cut the string, they soar even higher into the sky. And the kite feels wonderful. But in due time, the kite will come crashing down and destroying itself to bits.
Don’t cut the string. Remain in your relationship with God.
In other words, allow Him to love you.
However, we’re not just talking about friendship with God. Leadership is friendship, yes, but it’s more than friendship. Aside from relationship, a leader casts a vision—a dream.
Like the boy flying the kite, God has a vision for your life: For you to fly high up in the sky—as high as it can possibly fly.
God has a vision for your life. It’s found in John 10:10—I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.
Here’s what I found out: Like any great leader, God is totally committed to this vision for your life.
Ready To Die
One day, a General knocked on the house of an old priest.
The General said, “Old priest, tomorrow, I’ll be going to war. I want you to offer Mass for our victory.”
The old priest opened the door, saw the General, and said, “You seem very calm for someone who’s about to go into battle.”
The General smiled. “I assure you old priest that this will be an easy victory.” The enemy has 1000 men, I’ve got 4000. They’ve got 1000 guns, I’ve got 4000 guns.”
The old priest asked, “Where are they positioned?”
The General laughed and said, “They are insane. As we speak, they’re now positioning themselves on the seashore, between my army and the sea. And they have no boats. They’re trapped. They’re sitting ducks.”
The old priest asked, “Where will you be when your army attacks?”
“At the back of my army,” the General said.
“And where will the commander of the enemy be?” The priest asked.
The General chuckled, “I heard that he will be at the front of his army. I guess he wants to die first.”
The old priest shook his head. “I urge you, do not go to battle. You will lose.”
The General was shocked. “Old man, didn’t you hear me? We’re 4 times their number. We have 4 times their weapons.” He stormed out of the priest’s house and said, “Don’t bother praying for us! Good bye!”
Three days later, the General—wounded and battered—walked back into the old priest’s house. “You were right,” he said, “my army was wiped out. I’ve come back here to ask you how you knew we were going to lose.”
The old priest said, “Their commander was ready to die. You weren’t. Their commander positioned his army between you and the sea, because he wanted all his soldiers to know that they either win or die. He positioned himself in front of his army to tell his army that he was ready to die—and they should too. Because battles aren’t won by numbers or weapons, but by the commitment of their leader.”
I repeat. God has cast a vision for your life: To give a life of abundance.
But how committed is He to make this come true?
He’s so committed, He’s not only ready to die for it—He already did.
He gave His life on the cross to make that vision come true.
Nothing Can Stop God’s Vision In Your Life
I cannot tell you the name of my second spiritual leader.
He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
He wore a nice barong with a nice large silver cross around his neck. He preached well. He sang well. He prayed well. He looked very holy.
But he was the man who molested me when I was 13 years old.
He was also the same man who molested my other friends in the youth group.
I cannot begin to describe to you what followed next. My addictions. How I hated myself. How I lived with shame. I had this incredibly deep wound in my heart that would take two decades to heal. (Even to this day, God is healing my inner wounds.)
I will not wish this pain on anyone—not on my worst enemies.
But here’s my point: even this tragedy in my life was not enough to stop God’s vision for my life—to give me an Abundant life.
Because I’m experiencing this abundance today.
Friend, God won’t allow any problem, any crisis, any trial, any evil in your life to stop His great vision to happen in your life.
You will receive an abundant life.
Trust Him.
I urge you now to make Him your Leader.
Give yourself to Him.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
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